I've been told if I go the propane route I'll need to keep the burners from sitting too high in the firebox which might be tricky to do with the eccentrics in the way. That's why I decided to try an oil burner first. I'm assuming something like a tube burner would keep a lower profile in the smokebox?

I've been told if I go the propane route I'll need to keep the burners from sitting too high in the firebox which might be tricky to do with the eccentrics in the way. That's why I decided to try an oil burner first. I'm assuming something like a tube burner would keep a lower profile in the smokebox?

Hi,
Last Thursday I was just browsing through my old Engine Boosters and stumbled on the following entries which may be of interest.

June 1973 Booster: For sale, 1 1/2" scale, 7 1/2" gage 2-4-0 engine and tender 4 cars, 300Ft of track, a No. 10 switch and a dolly for the engine and tender. Offered by a Elroy Pergande of Pasadena.

September 1980 Booster: Ken Hackley has donated a Allen 2-4-0 to LALS to be sold and the proceeds to go for the expansion which was just being planned and proposed to the city. Ken had purchased the engine some years ago.

March 1981 Booster: The locomotive that Ken Hackman donated to the club for the expansion has been sold. The new owner is Cliff Beckett. Cliff made some repairs before putting the loco on the track and plans to add some paint and lettering.

This still leaves 30+ years to account for but I have a strong suspicion that this is your engine.

Glenn Brooks wrote:For now Just take off the ash pan. You don't need it except to keep cinders off the track. Also, a nice tube burner firing propane might give you a good heat source in the firebox.

My ash pan sits on top of the 4 tabs welded to the mud ring in the firebox and supports the 2 piece grates as well. Removing the pan removes everything unfortunately.

Boiler jacket is painted. The keyhole shape requires the front cab section to slide over the boiler jacket into position during assembly. Trying to figure out a way to avoid scratching everything up during the process as it's a tight fit.

Every part for the loco is painted and ready to go. I'll assemble everything next week after I finish the repairs to the smokebox.

Been reassembling the 2-4-0 with help from a friend to convert it to oil. Propane was also considered - both marty burners and slot burners. I even bought parts for a slot burner but it wasn't until I actually tried fitting the pipe and venturi that I realized there wasn't enough room with the space I had under the firebox when you account for the 4" of required pipe for the fuel/air mixture and the fairly large venturi.
So far, the Bagley burner seems like it'll work with my setup and I'll be installing a clippard regulator to handle fine control of the atomizer now that the Superscale atomizer valve is unavailable.

The two tones of satin and gloss black seem to compliment each other nicely. The straps on the jacket are the originals, and I'm in the process of fabricating number board plates for the headlight using brass channel and clear acrylic plastic. The bulbs will be swapped out with warm white LEDs.

TEAMTSM wrote:make sure when using that bagley burner you use a fine needle valve for the oil valve also and u won't ever have a problem!!!

Good to know!

Since my one and only test firing last fall, I've noted a few leaks spring up in the KBS tank sealer material. In their defense, I'm pretty sure I applied far more material than recommended, not knowing that it expands as it dries. It turned out to be very porous, allowing leaks to tunnel under the material to the edge of the tank where they would finally manifest themselves over time. In 3 months, 6 leaks sprung up. Patching this material is not easy, so I began looking for another solution. I wasn't quite ready to rip it all out just yet (it's really tough material - just cleaning off some of the overspill turned out to be quite the task) so I figured I'd apply a layer of something over the top. I wasnt crazy about trying bedliner, as I'd heard its porous too.
I discovered an AS SEEN ON TV product called FlexSeal where the commercial boasts its strength and water sealing qualities by building a boat hull made of metal screen mesh, coating it completely with the product and floating it in a lake. $15 at the local Frys Electronics so what did I have to lose? Happily, it turned out great. Other than the horrendous smell, the product is very thick and fills holes without leaking through, stays rubbery yet solid, and best of all, can be re-applied multiple times from the same can. Time will tell how well it holds up but so far I'm very happy. It's not going to hold up to say, a chisel, like truck bedliner or fuel tank sealer might, but the way I see it, it's lining the inside of a tank that holds water, no need to deal with the hassle of a product designed to hold fuel or 2 cords of firewood.

The 2-4-0 completed its 4th steam test today with the new burner and injector from Eccentric Engineer. Over the last few weeks I've been mostly piping the oil conversion, discovering space limitations within the very small firebox, and then re-plumbing. What I ended up with is a bit of a rats nest plumbing-wise, but gets the job done for the time being to get the loco steaming up and continue the shakedown process. A bit disappointing I'll have to backtrack later and re-plumb with new valves etc, but that's what the budget currently allows.

The first movement test under steam revealed it didn't want to move at all with cylinders locked up tight. After other club members fiddled with it on the tracks it was discovered that the valve rod on the firemans side was loose and had come off the bell crank right before the expansion link. I seem to have problems with these valve rods. On closer inspection my heart sank as I realized to re-attach I'll need to pull the boiler. I'm going to wait a few days to see if I or anyone else has any other solutions. At least if the boiler does need to be pulled it shouldnt take nearly as long to reassemble. Much of the plumbing was modified so that the inevitable disassembly wouldn't be an absolute nightmare...Or so I hope.

In the meantime I've made a few other cosmetic upgrades including main rods nickel plated, number boards for the headlight and outfitted with a very incandescent looking LED. I should also have a custom built 1 gallon oil tank for the tender arriving soon which should hopefully be enough to give me 2-3 hours of run time.